St. Landry democrat., 1887-02-05
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UNCLE SANS ARMY.

what Inspector General Baird Thinks OF
the Unions Regular Soldiery.
II the military establishment of the
| United States is on Il very small scale.
at least it is some satisfaction to know
that what Their, is of it is efficient. The
army as a WHOLE says lnspcctor-Gen,
cral Baird, sis in 4 very healthy and
gratifying condition. There is not i
bad or poor regiment in it." He adds
that there is not regiment that could
not be brought to the hi @hc>t degree Of
excellence in any line Of military duty
| belonging to its class i'll Il very short
t time. He describes the officers
rs ''Sobcr and orderly. capable
and intelligent, and ambitious to
excel The enlisted men ara
"a most respectable body" subordi-
nate. faithful and las well set UP and
instructed in their drills as their oppor-
tunities will permit" The account
| thus given by the Inspector-General Of
the results Of the examination made by
the officers of his department through
the year is borne out by other annual
reports both Of the staff and line. 1t
is certain that the number of trials by
court-martial, both of officers and men,
has greatly decreased during The year,
and that a most remarkable cain has
been made in the diminution of deser-
tons. There is Il great increase of
proficiency in craftsmanship, and the
health of the troops has been almost
unprecedentedly good,
The clothing. about which there was
formerly much complaint. is now re-
ported by General Baird to be 'of the
best quality and generally satisfactory
General Miles, however, showed be-
yond doubt that the shoes are not good
for rough campaigning, and steps were
taken to remedy this evil. General Baird
suggests that the company tailor should
be paid by the Government for fitting
the clothes of the men. and that this
| should be done without charge to them.
| This seenls to be only fair concession,
as is another suggestion, that CON-
potent cook should be enlisted for each
troop, battery and company. In theory
the men should be trained to
do their own cooking, but it is
no more difficult to take along a
company cook in campaigning than to
take a private soldier detailed to cook.
Besides. with the large proportion of
peace to war in our service. it is absurd
TO have good food spoiled for years and
the mems health injured in the effort
to be prepared for remote contin-
geneies. General Baird says that the
ration "never was better, either in
quality or Variety" but some of the
surgeons declare that the food, like the
clothing, suited to the borders of a
blizzard generating Manitoba in mid
winter is not equally suitable for cam,
paigning in July among the canons OF
Sonora with the mercury at ITO deg.
General Baird recommends more fresh
vegetables for certain posts and the
issuance Of bacon in place of salt pork.
A prominent suggestion Of the In
spector-General is that Fort Heaven
worth, as prison, should be aban-
doned, The prisoners, he says, "are
pampered, not punished in the way
they should be. They are too COM
Portable, too we'll fed and cared for"
They do not feel that they are i'll dis
grace, but rejoin their fellows 'tas if re-
turning from some honorable school OF
Instruction. This puts in a rather
novel light an institution which has
been much praised; but General Baird
says that his views is the general belief
of officers He would have deserters
kept at the larger military posts,
''to do the most mental and most
disgusting work of the command,
thus keeping their shame constantly
before them and relieving good men of
work they ought not to be called upon
to perform;" or else he would have
them sent to the severest prison in the
land.
The general impression lett by the
reports of the inspections of the year is
that the service is constantly improv-
ing. Certainly this ought to be the |
case. With only $4,000 enlisted men to
pick out of a population Of So, 100000,
with good pay compared With that of
other countries and with extra duty pay
recently increased, with new and high
grades of non-commissioned service
open, few Second Lieutenaneies dis
tributed every year and q retirement on
three-fourths pay and allowances now
granted, our little army ought to be Of
a high degree Of efficiency hicago
Herald.